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After receiving the unfortunate news that the race he was training for would be postponed due to COVID-19, Steve, Sr. Manager of Mechanical Systems, took on the challenge of turning lemons into lemonade. The first ever Freeosk Virtual Fun Run was born!

Freeoskers joined the #freeoskrunners Slack group where they shared training tips, playlists, and motivation throughout the weeks of training leading up to the last week of May – the official week to get in their run. Each person picked their race, everything from 5ks to half-marathons, and clocked great times!

In typical Steve style – all finishers needed to post a post-race selfie to get their completion prize and be entered into a contest for best pic for some great prizes.

Laura has been with Freeosk for 5 years and has held 5 different roles – talk about growing, evolving, and becoming! Check out the questions we asked her to learn a little more about her Freeosk journey and what’s to come!

Out of all the roles you’ve held at Freeosk, which one do you think you learned the most from?I’ve learned so much from all of the roles, I don’t think I could pick just one. My favorite part about hopping around the organization has been getting to work with so many different Freeoskers. It never ceases to amaze me—the great people we have at this company.

What is your favorite memory from your time at Freeosk so far?I love all of the organic weird things that pop up at Freeosk. A favorite memory is when we had a huge snow storm and only about 10% of people made it into the office. Ryan designed custom “Freeosk Arctic Expedition” badges and handed them out to all of the “Brave Heroes” who made it into the office. Everyone was jealous. I still have that badge tacked up at my desk.How would you describe the leadership style you’ve developed since being at Freeosk?I get really hyped about big challenges, and I love how overcoming them allows people the opportunity to thrive. I value transparency with all things both good and bad, and I take feedback very seriously. I also think it’s important to keep things fun and energetic because you can do more when you are having a good time.

Tell us about a time you made a mistake and what you learned from it.The biggest lesson I’ve learned here at Freeosk is that sometimes you have to be willing to make mistakes in order to progress. In fact, being so afraid to make mistakes that you are paralyzed is worse than actually making a mistake. So long story short, I’ve made a lot of mistakes but hopefully I’ve learned from most of them.

What are you most excited about for your new role as Director of Client Success?Freeosk is going through a huge evolution right now with all of the new product offerings and the new business processes that go along with them. I am really excited to work with the team to figure out how we can continue to expand our business while maintaining a great client experience and streamlining the work we do with internal teams. The Client Success team is stacked with great people, so I am really excited to see everyone tackle the new work.

Recently the Client Experience Team — our combined Account Management and Client Service talent — wrapped a 2-week intensive 2020 Kick-off with a laid back lunch at Pacific Standard Time and cooking experience with our neighbors at World of Whirlpool.Their culinary experts taught us how to make 3 different types of cookies – an iced sugar cookie, a spicy ginger snap, and a rich, pistachio and sea salt sable (I didn’t know what it was either).

We were as effective as making them as we were at eating them! The team has dedicated significant time since the beginning of the year learning the ingredients of Freeosk’s 2020 success — industry and product knowledge, simple and fun client touch points, streamlined internal connections.

And in many ways, our method is no different from that needed for perfectly baked goodies — the right ingredients “mise en place”, the art of “listening to your food”, and good people with which to enjoy both the process and results.

We were thrilled to participate in the Path to Purchase Expo to introduce our new products to brands and retailers. It was also a great experience for the team to learn more about how retailers are adapting to changing consumer shopping behaviors.

Our teams worked collaboratively to flawlessly get us there. Creative, Digital, Sales and Engineering worked cross-functionally to figure out the best way to demo our new products.

The two day event was extremely productive, both showcasing our products at the booth and attending industry-leader speaker sessions. We even had a celebrity sighting – Rainn Wilson stopped by our booth to check out the Freeosk!

After a busy week, the team came together for a Donut Debrief to share learnings:

Client Takeaways

A handful of prospective clients said: “I’ve always wanted to work with you but I don’t have samples…” Great news – we have new Freeosk experience products that solve for that challenge!

Others offered: “We are excited to learn how to plug your data into our customer journey.”

Internal Takeaways

Creative and Sales came together to prioritize our next client marketing piece related to myths about Freeosk

We identified a new term: We create magnetic moments in the path to purchase experience. Consumers are drawn to Freeosk. And that relationship has value to both consumers and brands.

There were pumpkin guts galore in the St. Joseph and Chicago offices as teams planned and executed their carving designs for our annual contest! The Analytics team even roasted (and shared) their pumpkin’s seeds in the office toaster.

The designs ranged from a spooky ghoul asking “Would you like a free sample?” to the cutest Owl-oween pumpkin affectionately named Owlivia. The teams put a lot of great effort into their carvings and Freeoskers voted on their favorites to award prizes to the top 3.

Freeoskers also dressed their best for the costume contest! Prizes were awarded for “Scariest”, “Funniest”, and “Totally 2010’s” costumes. Even our Bevi and lobby Freeosk got in on the fun.

Our People Leader Book Club just finished reading The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier. The book focuses on a few simple techniques anyone can use while coaching up, down or across…and even at home!

Bonus points – the content also supports our practice of Situational Leadership. There are very strong connection points to diagnosing development levels and providing the right direction and support to create a culture of self-reliant problem solving.

Everyone shared the ONE BIG THING they took away from the book. Here are a few coaching key points:

Don’t ask questions that are leading or rhetorical. Instead ask ‘What else?’, ‘What’s on your mind?’, ‘What’s the real challenge here for you?’, ‘What do you want?’. And don’t think about a response while the other person is talking. Talk less and listen actively!

It’s easy to jump into advice mode. We all want to help! Start with ‘What’s the real challenge here for you?’ to allow for independent problem solving.

When someone comes to you with a challenge, ask, ‘How can I help?’ instead of inserting yourself into the solution. The answer they provide will help you diagnose their development level. (from Situational Leadership)

So often we ask multiple questions at once. This does not allow the other person to stop and think – they try to deflect the multitude of questions being directed at them. Ask a question, pause and wait three seconds for a response.

Coaching should happen informally, every day. Ongoing feedback leads to growth and development!

We recently held our third annual Spirit Week- a time that we celebrate our Freeosk culture and values leading up to our Summer Party. This year was an exciting time to introduce our evolved values that are part of our Brand Blueprint.

The week was not short of fun and excitement. We started the week by giving everyone our blueprint for growth- complete with a few tools to architect the direction we are moving in. We also learned a lot about doing a puzzle as a team- and a new level of competitive spirit our Freeoskers have!

We did several activities to bring our values to life- a ping pong zip line competition (Problem Solvers and Builders), how to make lemonade from lemons (Optimistic and Enduring Partners), and my personal favorite – our first Oskars Ceremony (Authenticity), where everyone is a winner!

We wrapped the week off with our summer party. First came a little pre-party fearless activity with some out-of-the-ordinary snacks. Then we made our way to the Riverwalk to enjoy drinks on a beautiful Chicago night.

What makes a good story? This is the question that a group of eager
Freeoskers hoped to answer when
they walked into Tech Nexus on a crisp February morning. An air of expectancy
hung over the room as Sales Director, Kunal Talwar, introduced a man who would lead the journey into the
realm of storytelling.

That man was Paul Smith, a former Procter & Gamble executive
recognized as one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers of 2018. Through the adaptation of his
book, Sell with a Story, Paul created an interactive workshop which consults
organizations on how they can use storytelling to capture attention, build
trust and, most importantly, close the sale.

Paul’s seminar guided the team
through his method of storytelling; focusing on defining the elements of a
great story and determining when and why to tell one. Utilizing examples from
his professional and personal life, Paul’s program taught us the tools
necessary to craft, assess and improve our own stories. By day’s end, raw anecdotes had become compelling,
thoughtful stories. The
team has scheduled a series of on-going workshops to continue honing these
skills.

We have a new home! Our new Freeosk
Bentonville office opened in December 2018. It’s perfect for collaboration with our partners and presents
an amazing, fun atmosphere for Bentonville-based Freeoskers.

Located just steps from the Walmart Home Office, our new space offers convenient, anytime access for our Account Management team.

A day in the life at B-ville? Client calls, collaboration with Chicago-based team members and updates about upcoming training with VP, People – Megan, who spends her time between Bentonville and Chicago.

Top 5 Reasons to Work in our Bentonville Space

A positive, fearless and fun-loving culture with our Bentonville-based Freeoskers!

Fully stocked kitchen with coffee and snacks to help fuel innovative brainstorms.

Two New Boardrooms made for collaboration – The Freehive and Drop Zone!

Great views and easy-access to the Walmart Home Office.

Trips to Chicago for fun Freeosk events!

“With our new office in Bentonville, we now have another great way for our Freeoskers to contribute to our culture. We offer opportunities to participate in activities happening at headquarters in Chicago – such as Lunch and Learns and Book Clubs. Video calls really help us feel like we’re in the same room with our fellow Freeoskers in Chicago and Michigan” Megan Voss, Director, People.

Pat, Kunal and Natalie collaborating in The FreehiveAmanda hosting a Sales Training